rusty baseboard

deetu

When my son moved out, I took down his saltwater fishtank and since my husband didn't believe that the primed baseboard heater should be painted, it is really, really rusty.
Now, please be patient with me as I do not know what things are called but I am handy and willing to do this repair.

What is my best option to repairing this? The face plate I can of course remove. I was thinking of using my dremmel on the part connected to the wall since it is a small space of about 4 ft of rusting.

My husband believes that now that it started rusting we will always have a problem with it rusting. I believe if I get it all to the metal and put the correct primer (any suggestions here is welcome) it will not.

Oh, one more problem that may make things difficult. I cannot handle the smell of some paints. Paint removers and enamals really make me ill, even if it is in the house and I am not doing it.

thank you in advance for any help or suggestions

Termite

A really good way to get the rust off and back to bare metal is with a wire wheel that fits in your drill. Just about any hardware store has them in varying degrees of stiffness. Stiffer wire wheels will remove more than softer wheels. A dremel would work but you'll be there for 3 days doing it...Unproductive.

Once you're back to bare metal (or fairly bare metal) you'll need to use primer. RustOleum is really the standard for this, and yeah, it smells. Put a fan in the window to blow the smell outside or make yourself scarce that day. Not sure how hot your baseboard heater gets, but it might be wise to use high heat primer and paint that is typically available in a ton of colors in auto parts stores.